02.B17. Christ In Us, And Christ For Us

Chapter 32 "CHRIST IN US, AND CHRIST FOR US."

We sometimes meet with utterances which, on account of their wonderful adaptation and comprehensiveness, obtain a permanent and influential place in our minds. Such an utterance we met with, when in Edinburgh twenty-five years ago last summer. "Some months since," said a gentleman to us, "I had occasion when in Aberdeen to call upon an Italian artist. After completing my business arrangements, the artist inquired of me in respect to the state of religion in the Protestant Churches. On being told that it was very low, the stranger replied that it was so in the Catholic Church, of which he was a member. ’My house,’ he added, ’is the home of our Catholic priests. I not unfrequently find them so vulgar and vile in their conversation that I rise up and drive them out of my residence.’ This the man said with tears, and then added, ’The sum of the gospel, sir, is this -- Christ in us, and Christ for us.’ -- This, I said, is an utterance to be held in perpetual remembrance, as it fully represents all the relations which do exist, or can exist, between Christ and the believer. When we think of all our necessities as creatures, and above all, as sinners, Christ appears as our security in respect to them all. There is not one of them that He has overlooked, and not one for the supply of which He has not made full and abundant provision. We think of our sins, and of the infinitude of our guilt as sinners, and even here Christ, "who is our life," appears for us as having "borne our sins in His own body on the tree," and as our "Advocate with the Father," "making intercession for the transgressors." "Sinners may hope," since "Christ has died, yea, rather, has risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." We think of our hopeless ruin and bondage under "the law of sin and death," of the number and strength of the evil principles and propensities by which we have been so long held in abject and powerless servitude, and of the resistless powers wielded by our great enemy in the world around us to perfect and perpetuate our bondage. Here again Christ is for us, to take away our sins, to break the power of all evil principles and propensities, to render us "more than conquerors" in every conflict "with the world, the flesh, and the devil," to "sprinkle clean water upon us that we may be clean," to "cleanse us from all our filthiness, and from all our idols," to "wash us, and make us whiter than snow," that we may be "without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing," that we may "be holy and without blemish." In respect to the temptations that beset us, Christ is with us and for us, never to "suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but with the temptation to make a way of escape, that we may be able to bear it," Yes, Christ is ever with us and for us, as "able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him." In reference to our many and great infirmities, He is for us to "render God’s strength perfect in our weakness," so that "when we are weak we shall be strong." In regard to our cares great and small, our tribulations and "fiery trials," our afflictions and sorrows, Christ is for us, to "teach us in every state in which we are therewith to be content," to "keep us in perfect peace," to fill us with "everlasting consolation and good hope through grace," to enable us to "learn obedience from the things which we suffer," and to cause "our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, to work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. When we approach "a throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," He is for us there, interceding with the Father, that He will "do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."

We have a mission and a work appointed for us here. "As Thou has sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world." "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." When we reflect upon our own insufficiency, and on the magnitude of the work assigned us, we naturally cry out, "Who is sufficient for these things?" When we think again, and call to mind the fact that Christ is with us and for us in "all our work and labour of love," we rest in the assurance that we, having in Christ "all-sufficiency for all things, shall be abundantly furnished unto every good work." In regard to what awaits us after death, Christ is for us here also, preparing, amid the many mansions in His Father’s house, "a place for us," and ready, when we have "finished the work which He has given us to do," to "come to us, and take us to Himself; that where He is, there we may be also." And, finally, at the eternal judgment, He will be for us then and there, not to condemn, but to justify us, and to "welcome us, as the blessed of His Father," to "inherit the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world." Then, reader, take this thought with you when you go forth to meet coming events, that whatever necessity may come upon you, Christ is for you for the supply of that want, and with the supply to bring to your heart the assurance that "no evil shall befall you," and that "no good thing shall He withhold from you."

But, reader, in all the relations in which Christ is for us, He is for us as a means to a still higher end, that He may be in us, and live, and dwell, and reign within us for ever and ever. The heart of the creature is the home of God, the proper dwelling-place of every person of the sacred Trinity. Sin has banished God from His own house, and rendered it the abode of every foul and unclean thing. Christ has come, and is for us, for the cleansing of this, His own sanctuary, and to rebuild it "for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Christ will never "see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied," in respect to you or me, until He shall take up "His abode in us," and shall dwell in us as the father dwells in Him. With what impressive language is this great truth of an indwelling Christ expressed in the Bible! -- as, for example -- "Christ in you the hope of glory;" "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ;" "Till Christ be formed in you;" "Abide in me, and I in you;" "I in them, and Thou in me;" "Christ liveth in me;" and "I will dwell in them and walk in them;" "We will come unto him, and make our abode with him;" and "In whom ye also are builded for an habitation of God through the Spirit." When Christ shall be "formed within us," and shall be "in us the hope of glory," His indwelling will be attended with that of each of the other Persons of the Trinity, and He will bring with Him, when He shall enter the sanctuary of our hearts, "all the fulness of God," and we shall be filled with the same. Then shall we "behold with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord," and shall be "changed into the same image from glory to glory," and shall become possessed, in our measure, of every virtue and grace, and form of moral beauty and perfection, which adorn the character of Christ. Then shall we "comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and shall know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," and in "knowing and believing the love that God hath unto us, our love will be made perfect." Then shall "our fellowship be with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ," and "God shall become our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning shall be ended."

Then, I remark again, shall we fully understand and know all that our Saviour meant in the following utterances : -- "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word ; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. And the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved me." When Christ shall be in you, reader, I would add still further, prayer will be to you a new service. "Moses spake to God face to face, as a man speaketh with his friend." So you, in prayer, will address God not merely as your "Father in heaven," but as directly and immediately before and within you, with a present Christ before and in you to intercede for you, and you will know that "God hears you, and that you have the petitions that you desired of Him."

You will literally "read your Bible with new eyes." The great realities of which it speaks will be as mentally visible to you as to the servant of the prophet, after the Lord had opened his eyes, was the celestial host "round about Elisha." Nothing will be more real to you than Christ as a personal presence directly and immediately before you, and "in you the hope of glory;" nothing will be beheld with such open-faced distinctness and impressiveness as "the glory of the Lord ; nothing will be so comprehensible as ’the love of Christ which passeth knowledge;" and nothing so receivable as "all the fulness of God." This is very strong language. But what else do the words of Christ permit us to write? ’ We will come to him, and make our abode with him." "I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." "I will dwell in them, and will walk in them, and be their God, and they shall be my sons and daughters."

If any one should ask us to explain in what sense, and in what form, Christ dwells and lives in believers, I would reply, that those who have not had an experimental knowledge of that indwelling can have no more apprehensions of it than we can now have of heaven, and of what we shall be when we are there. We know that in heaven our "bodies will be fashioned after the likeness of Christ’s glorified body," and that we shall be morally and spiritually "like Him, because we shall see Him as He is." So we know also that when "Christ shall be in us, and we in Him," our union, fellowship, and intercommunion with Him, and His with us, will be the same in kind as mutually obtain between Christ and the Father. "As Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also maybe one in us." "I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." In that union we know still further that Christ will so completely control and determine our mental and moral states and activities, and so completely transform our whole moral characters after His own image, that the Father will love us as He does Christ. "That the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them," "That the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved me." In this indwelling of Christ in us, our love to Him will, in our measure, be rendered as perfect as His is to us. "Herein is our love made perfect." When Christ is in us, He will render our content under all the allotments of Providence as perfect, our submission to the divine will as absolute, and our peace and joy as constant and full as were His. "That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." When Christ shall thus dwell in a number of believers, their "fellowship one with another" will be the same in kind as that which exists between Christ and the Father. "That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee." The final result will be this: The world, seeing "how believers love one another," perceiving them, all in common, "walking in the light of God," "kept in perfect peace," and "rejoicing with joy unspeakable, and full of glory," will "believe" and "know" that "the Father has sent Christ into the world," and "has loved believers as He has loved Christ." "I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved me." Thus we can designate some of the results of the union between Christ and believers -- the union represented by the words, "I in them, and Thou in me;" and this is all the explanation we can give of the subject.

If any one should inquire after the condition on which our experience can accord with the union, fellowship, and intercommunion represented by the words, "I in them, and Thou in me," a twofold answer must be given to such an inquiry. We must, in the first place, through faith in Christ, in the varied relations in which He is for us, as a Saviour from sin, be brought into a state of full present consecration to Christ, and obedience to His commandments. On this subject the words of our Saviour are perfectly plain and explicit. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto Him (not Iscariot), Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Before Christ will "manifest Himself unto us," and before "He and the Father will come unto us, and make their abode with us," we must first "love Christ" and "keep His words." With loving hearts and obedient spirits, with these, and these only, will Christ and the Father make their abode.

Before this indwelling can arise, even then another condition must be fulfilled, namely, "the Comforter" must be sent to us, to enlarge our capacities to receive Christ and the Father, and to "enlighten the eyes of our understanding," that we may "behold the glory of the Lord," and "comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." "If ye love me," says our Saviour, "keep my commandments; and I will pray the Father for you, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth." "At that day," the Saviour adds, the day when the Comforter shall come unto you, "ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." Christ and the Father can dwell in us but upon the condition that the Spirit shall first "strengthen us with might in the inner man;" shall "take of the things of Christ, and show them unto us," and shall "show us plainly of the Father." Christ and the Father are, at all times, very near to us. We shall never find them, however, until the Spirit shall open our eyes to "beheld with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord." "In whom ye also are builded for an habitation of God through the Spirit." It is "the Spirit whom Christ sends unto us from the Father" that brings us into "fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." Hence this fellowship is called "the communion and fellowship of the Spirit." It is when, and only when, we have "received the promise of the Spirit," and are thus "filled with the Holy Ghost," that we can "know the love of Christ," "beheld the glory of the Lord," and "God become our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning be ended."

Read often and ponder deeply, reader, the words of inspiration: -- "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture bath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." Remember this, that this promise can be fulfilled in your experience but upon the condition that you shall love and obey Christ, as the disciples did, and "the Holy Ghost shall fall upon you as He did upon them at the beginning." Then, and only then, "will Christ be in you the hope of glory." A question of very great practical importance here presents itself; a question which each believer should, with deep and solemn interest, put to his own heart and conscience, namely, In what relations, and to what extent, do I really and truly know my Saviour? "This," He tells us, "is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." "This is life eternal" is ours in possession, in exact accordance with the extent and limits of the knowledge referred to. In regard to the mass of professing Christians, it is no slander to affirm that they in reality know no more of Christ as a manifested indwelling presence than they do of heaven. In the relations in which Christ is for us, their real knowledge of Him is circumscribed almost wholly within the sphere of our justification, the sphere in which "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." As a consequence, as soon as the freshness of the consciousness of "sins forgiven" has passed away, their primal joys fade out, leaving in the centre of the heart "an aching void the world can never fill." As long as these circumscribed views of the relations in which Christ is for us continue, that void will not only remain unfilled, but new and higher joys will not well out in the soul, none of the conditions of Christ’s manifesting Himself to, and living in, the believer being fulfilled. What a fearful error it is to teach such believers that they have received "the promised baptism of the Holy Ghost;" that they are "in Christ, and Christ in them;" that "their bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost;" that "God dwells in them and walks in them;" and that they are "beholding with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord," and are being "changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord ," -- all of which is absolutely affirmed of all who have received "the promise of the Spirit."

Must we suppose that all that such language really imports is what is realised in the common experience of the mass of professing Christians, whom Christian charity requires us to regard as converted persons? "He that believeth on me," says our Saviour, "as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Does this mean nothing more than the experience of which we are speaking? All this, as the Saviour absolutely affirms, is, and shall be, true of all who shall receive "the promise of the Spirit." "But this He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." If what Christ then promised has not been made real in your experience, reader, you do yourself infinite wrong if you entertain the idea that you have been "baptized with the Holy Ghost."

We also understand the conditions of the possibility of our receiving what the inspiration means in the following wonderful words, namely, "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to," or through, "the power (of the Holy Ghost) that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Before we can come into such relations to Christ, relations in which what is here referred to can become real in our experience, we must pass through the process to which the apostle refers in the preceding parts of the epistle, and especially in the verses which immediately precede that under consideration.

First of all, we must be sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise," and "the eyes of our understanding must thus be enlightened, that we may know what is the hope on His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." Then we must "be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man," and this as a means to this end, "that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith," "that we," by such indwelling, "being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God." When we shall have received "the promise of the Father," "the baptism of the Holy Ghost," and when the Spirit shall have led us on through all these enlightenments and experiences, then we shall have been brought into such relations to and fellowships "with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ," that all that "we ask or think" will fall infinitely short of what the Spirit will ever after evince Himself as able to do for us. On no other conditions are the experiences and fulnesses under consideration possible to us, and they are, in all their "lengths, and breadths, and depths, and heights," possible to all who will "follow on to know the Lord," as He has made known to us the way.